#WrestleWarsaw

Live Blog: Poland Open Ranking Series, Day One

By Eric Olanowski

Poland Open Ranking Series begins in Warsaw with five freestyle weight categories in action on Monday.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Photo

Tuesday's Final Matchups:
57kg: Makhmudjon SHAVKATOV (UZB) vs. Stevan Andria MICIC (SRB) (Round 3)
70kg: Alec PANTALEO (USA) vs. James GREEN (USA) 
79kg: Rashid KURBANOV (UZB) vs. Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK) 
86kg: Sandro AMINASHVILI (GEO) vs. Zahid VALENCIA (USA) 
97kg:  Ali Khalil SHABANIBENGAR (IRI) vs. Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) 

13:22: That'll do it for the morning session. We'll see you back here at 18:00 (local time) for the Day One medal matches.

13:13: Aliyev scores five unanswered points in the second period, but Pantaleo's four-point move in the first period pushes him past the three-time world champ, 6-6. He'll wrestle the winner of James Malcolm GREEN (USA) and  Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI (GEO), who are wrestling now on Mat B. 

13:08: What a first period for Alec PANTALEO (USA). He scored a four-point move and a two-point takedown and leads three-time world champion Haji Aliyev, 6-1, after the first period. 

13:03: James GREEN (USA) and Iakobishvili are on the clock, too. They'll wrestle at 13:09 on Mat B.

12:57: We'll take a quick seven-minute break to give Aliyev some rest time. When the time is up, he'll take on Alec PANTALEO (USA) for a spot in tonight's 70kg finals. 

12:37: World champs Aliyev and Iakobishvili are wrestling right now on Mat A!

12:27: Mohammadian held on to win a close battle against Karimmachiani. He scored a takedown and gave up a pair of one-point moves in the second period but held the criteria advantage. He'll now take on Ali SHABANIBENGAR (IRI) in tonight's 97kg gold-medal match.

12:22: Mohammadian struck first with the matches only takedown. He leads, 2-0, after the first period.

12:20: HERE. WE. GO! MAT A: Alireza KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI) and Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) are wrestling now!

12:14: World champions  Haji Aliyev (AZE) and Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI (GEO) are up in three matches on Mat A.

11:56: With Alireza Mohammad KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI) and Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) wrestling in the 97kg semifinals, it's important to note that this plays a major role in who represents Iran at the Tokyo Olympic Games. I spoke with the Iranian Wrestling Federation, and they said, "We have a qualification cycle. This consists of the performances of each wrestler during the last 7 months (in training and competitions) and for sure Poland Rankings will be one part of this cycle."

11:52: Deepak PUNIA (IND) won't compete at the Poland Open. The Indian pulled out of the competition with an elbow injury. That pushes Zahid VALENCIA (USA) into the semifinals. He'll take on the winner of Tokyo Olympians Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI) and Myles AMINE (SMR). 

11:49: Karimmachiani just put on a show! He thumped Conyedo, 11-0, in just five minutes. He'll now take on Mohammadhossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI). 

11:38: It feels like he just wrestled, but Conyedo is up again! He's wrestling two-time world silver medalist Alireza Mohammad KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI).

11:30: That was close, but Zahid VALENCIA (USA) got the job done. He hung on late to defeat Sebastian JEZIERZANSKI (POL), 6-5. He'll square off against '19 world silver medalist Deepak PUNIA (IND).

Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO RUANO (ITA) upset Olympic champion Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE), 2-2, in their opening-round meeting. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

11:21: We're not even one with our first cup of coffee and we already have a massive upset. Italy Abraham Conyedo scored the matches only takedown and upset Olympic champion Sharifov in their opening-round meet.

11:14: This should be a good one on Mat A. It's Olympic champion  Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) and world bronze medalist Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO RUANO (ITA). They've both qualified their nation's for the Tokyo Olympic Games at 97kg. 

11:13: I spoke too soon! As I wrote Aliyev trailed, 2-1, he strung together seven unanswered points and won the match, 8-2. That win pushed him into his 70kg Round 2 match against Syrbaz TALGAT (KAZ). 

11:06: It's still early, but three-time world champion Haji ALIYEV (AZE) trails Sirojiddin KHASANOV (UZB), 2-1, with short time left in the first period. They are wrestling on Mat C.

11:00: Good morning, wrestling fans! For those asking about brackets: instead of releasing them all at once, they'll be released each morning after weigh-ins. 

#WrestleBudapest

Bisultanov preps for Zagreb Worlds with Budapest gold

By Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 19) -- After winning the Zagreb Open gold medal in February, Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) had said that his main goal for the year to become a world champion. For that, he skipped European Championships as he had previously won gold there.

He focused on his shortcoming and weight management as he prepared for the World Championships, to be held in September in Zagreb.

With two months to go for that, Bisultanov entered the Budapest Ranking Series to test his preparations, and came out with flying colors. He won the Greco-Roman 87kg gold medal with a scintillating performance in Budapest.

Bisultanov did not break a sweat to reach the final against David LOSONCZI (HUN), who struggled throughout the day, and later pulled out of the final injured.

This was Bisultanov's second Ranking Series gold of the year and is expected to jump to number three in the rankings for 87kg. If all the top five ranked wrestlers are entered for the World Championships, Bisultanov will likely have Olympic champion Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) on side of the bracket.

But a performance like Saturday could potentially see Bisultanov get he better of Novikov, who lost the European Championships final to Losonczi this year.

Bisultanov, who won Thor Masters in June, warmed up with a 4-1 victory over Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) before he blanked Alan OSTAEV (UWW), 8-0, in the quarterfinal.

He faced local wrestlers Tamas LEVAI (HUN) in the semifinal and after a 7-0 lead, he decided it safe and defended from par terre. He gave a late stepout but managed to win 7-2 easily.

A Bisultanov-Losonczi final was what the fans wanted but Losonczi had struggled with his health all day long and decided to not risk it in the final.

He opened his day with tough bout against former European champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB), winning 3-1. His second match was also against a Serbian wrestler, Andrija MIHAJLOVIC (SRB), and he won 6-1.

It was the quarterfinal in which Losonczi was troubled by world U20 champion Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ) who launched him for a suplex to lead 5-0. But Losonczi roared in the second period, scoring from par terre and getting points for Yevloyev's defensive fouls to win 9-5.

He then managed to keep Islam ABBASOV (AZE) quiet to win 4-0 in the semifinal and entertained the local fans with a back-flip. He would later not wrestle the final and win the silver.

In other two Greco-Roman weight classes of the day, Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) defeated Abdullo ALIEV (UZB), 8-2, in the 72kg final took a big step towards being on the Georgian team of the World Championships.

At 130kg, Marat KAMPAROV (UWW) got the better of Darius VITEK (HUN) in the final to win the gold medal.

RESULTS

72kg
GOLD: Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) df. Abdullo ALIEV (UZB), 8-2

BRONZE: Otar ABULADZE (GEO) df. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE) df. Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), 9-0

87kg
GOLD: Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) df. David LOSONCZI (HUN), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB), 5-2
BRONZE: Tamas LEVAI (HUN) df. Alan OSTAEV (UWW), 5-2

130kg
GOLD: Marat KAMPAROV (UWW) df. Darius Attila VITEK (HUN), 3-1

BRONZE: Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ) df. Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN), 5-3
BRONZE: Koppany LASZLO (HUN) df. Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE), 2-1